'We are with them, but not of them!' Even Sir Winston Churchill opposed membership of EU

PROOF has emerged that wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill opposed British membership of the EU.

A dossier has been uncovered which is thought to prove that Churchill opposed Britain in the EU

A Veterans For Britain dossier has been hailed by the former Prime Minister’s biographer Boris Johnson as ending claims that he wanted us in the EU.

The Remain campaign claim is set to be repeated this week with the launch of the new £5 note with Churchill’s portrait. But an analysis of speeches by Sir Winston and a conversation he had with Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery reveal that he was firmly opposed to British membership.

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Instead he wanted Britain to be a “friend and sponsor” to a United States of Europe.

We have our own Commonwealth and Empire

Prime Minister Winston Churchill

As early as 1946, Churchill saw Britain helping a new Europe but not being part of it.

He said: “Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations, mighty America, and I trust Soviet Russia must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe and must champion its right to live and shine.”

As Prime Minister in 1953, he was explicit that Britain should not be part of the arrangement. He told the Commons: “Where do we stand? We are not members of the European Defence Community, nor do we intend to be merged in a Federal European system. We feel we have a special relation to both. This can be expressed by prepositions, by the preposition ‘with’ but not ‘of’ – we are with them, but not of them. We have our own Commonwealth and Empire.”

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Boris Johnson hailed the discovery as ending claims the Churchill wanted the UK in the EU

He also told the Cabinet that “we are not merged with United Europe, we are a separate closely – and specially related – ally and friend, but we will not be subordinated into a federal system”.

The message was repeated in a number of his speeches in the 1950s and 1960s. When the Tories were first trying to take Britain into the European Economic Community in 1962 he was asked by Montgomery on his hospital bed whether it should happen.